Page 73 of Queen Takes Queen
"Is it safe for us to talk openlyhere?"
Mayte nodded. "All my people know about Xochitl. She's usually out and about playing with Grandmama. We only hid her away while you were here, in case things didn't go well." She grimaced. "They haven't gone well, but I hope you understand a little better why I wasn't completelyforthcoming."
"Does Skye know about her?" Ginaasked.
Mayte paled and shook her head. "Goddess, no. If she did, I don't think there'd even be rubble left here at Valle de Zaniyah. We'd all be dead and I'm very certain she would take my daughter and raise her as herown."
To replace the daughter she'd lost. "Would it be rude to ask how you managed toconceive?"
"That’s a story all of its own. Grandmama had been communicating with... with..." Mayte paused and took a deep breath. "I can't say her name. I hope that means something toyou."
My mother. She'd been talking with Esetta Isador, her name not to be spoken by any living Aima. I nodded but didn't say anything to reveal my secret parentage. Notyet.
"She gave Grandmama the idea. After thousands of years, Aima magic wasn't strong enough to sustain a new generation. We needed to bring in new, powerful blood. New magic." Mayte poured herself another cup of tea and dropped in a single sugar cube. "If I wanted a child, I needed to find one of the old gods toconceive."
A dying god. The note Esetta had written about my father, Typhon, father ofmonsters.
"That's why you were in Dallas," Gina said. "But whythere?"
"I've only ever called jaguars as Blood," Mayte said. "So I wanted the god of jaguars to father my child. When Tenochtitlan fell, many of the old gods and goddesses returned to Aztlan. However, after so many centuries, no one knows exactly where that ancient city is. I hoped that if I found the lost city, that I'd find at least one god there. All the references referred to an island in a lake, somewhere north of here. We searched for years with no luck, and I talked with every Mesoamerican researcher I could find. Then I realized I'd been searching with my eyes and my brain, when I needed to search with my blood and my heart. I used my power and asked my goddess to guide me, and with Her help, I foundTepeyollotl."
Her old and extremely powerful Blood who was so much more than alpha. "He's a livinggod?"
Mayte smiled at the incredulity ringing in my voice. "He's known by many names, including Tezcatlipoca, or 'Smoking Mirror.' When he felt my power and heard my plea, he roused from his long sleep and joined me. I don't know if it was me, honestly, or the jaguars with me. But he did come, and we did conceive my daughter. But then my worry increased athousandfold."
Sobered, I could imagine all too well what would happen if Keisha Skye found out about the baby. Or herfather.
"If she took me as sib, then she'd have access to Tepeyollotl too," Mayte said softly. "He’s bound to me now. In many ways, he’s vulnerable, because I’m mortal, even though I’m definitely harder to kill than a human and will live much longer. I'm under no illusions that she would allow me to keep such a powerful Blood who'd already proved that he was able to sire a queen. She would demand I surrender hisbond."
"And take Xochitl," Eztli growled, his voice more jaguar than man. I met his fierce shining eyes and saw his beast prowling in his body. "We would die to protect our queen and her child, and without question, we would die first and hard, but we wouldn't be able to change the outcome. Skye would level this nest, and lay claim to our queen, her child, and her god. Zaniyah would be nomore."
Mayte laid her trembling fingers over mine on the table. "This is why we need you so desperately. Why I didn't dare give you a reason not to try and enter the nest. Why I couldn't risk exposing Xochitl or her father, not until I knew for sure if I could trust you ornot."
I sighed, my heart already tugged into this mess. I couldn't fault a mother for doing anything to protect her child, the same as Esetta had done for me, going so far as to use the last of her magic to place a geas on her entire people so she would beforgotten.
So I could befree.
And poor Eztli. In many ways, he was in the same position as Rik. Alpha, but put at risk because his queen took a powerful old Blood. In my case, it'd been my king, Mehen, and in Mayte's, her god. But it could have easily gone badly if our alphas didn't love us so much. If they weren't willing to compromise and risk their ego for the good ofall.
I reached up to Rik over my shoulder, blindly lifting my hand. And he wrapped my fingers in his big powerful palm, as I knew hewould.
:If you need to take a god, I will do all in my power to help you accomplish the task athand.:
:I don't intend to take any god.:I squeezed his fingers and then put his hand on my shoulder and picked up my coffee cup once more.:My alpha and our Blood are plenty for thisqueen.:
His bond suddenly cut like hot steel through butter, melting around my heart.:If you want a child and are not able to conceive with me, then I will find your god and you will have him and your child. So I say as youralpha.:
Deciding it would be easier to ignore his promise rather than argue, I took a sip of coffee and met Mayte's intense eyes. Still shining, only now shining with fierce hope and determination. "What made you decide you could trustme?"
She cocked her head to the side, a smile playing on her lips. "Honestly? When you refused both me and my brothers lastnight."
My eyebrows rose with surprise. "Really?"
"Do you think if I'd offered to swear to Keisha Skye that she would have refused? Even keeping Xochitl out of the picture, she wants my power for herself. She wants my nest and everyone in it to serve her will and increase her power. Even more, she never would have refused to take such powerful Blood. My brothers have some secrets of theirown."
I remembered the agonized longing in their eyes. I’d been fairly out of it after the geas knocked me on my ass, but I could feel their gazes following me all night. Taking them as Blood would be no hardship, that was for sure. I didn’t want to add more to our number, but I had to admit I was intrigued. "Oh?"
"How old do you think Grandmamais?"
